The Orangutans by Gisela Kaplan Their Evolution, Behavior, and Future

In this eye-opening book, two experts on animal communication paint a compassionate picture of the species of great apes that behaves most like us. Blending the work of other scientists with their own extensive research in orangutan behavior, Kaplan and Rogers give rare insight into the lives, and the plight, of these peaceful, intelligent creatures. They provide an amazing account of orangutan behaviors, from their remarkable mothering skills to their ways of communication. Interspersed throughout are charming tales of some of the orangutans the authors have met and befriended. The authors also discuss the uncertain fate of these gentle forest dwellers, whose jungle habitat is visibly dwindling day by day. Illustrated throughout, The Orangutans is the first book to focus entirely on these remarkable primates and their relationship to humans in the evolutionary tree.

Gisela Kaplan is a sociologist in the Research Centre for Aboriginal and Multicultural Studies at the University of New England. She has also worked for a number of community groups, including the Women's Refuge Movement of Australia, and served on the Women's Advisory Council of Nsw. She is author of several books, including "Contemporary Western European Feminism,"
Lesley J. Rogers is a full professor at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

Unrated Critic Reviews for The Orangutans

Publishers Weekly

The authors conclude that orangutans can survive only as long as their native rain forest does: they're ""too large to keep in enclosures, too intelligent to keep in zoos, too self-aware to keep in laboratories, and...